ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1313 



mites. These were the only social insects, the 

 twigfuls consisting of from five to fifteen mem- 

 bers. All the other organisms were isolated, 

 scattered here and there. Life in these lowW 

 places, so far beneath the sunlight, is an indi- 

 vidual thing. Flocks and swarms are unknown, 

 and the mob has no place here. Each organism 

 must live its life and fulfill its destiny single- 

 handed. Even when two individuals were found 

 together it was apparently more through acci- 

 dent of environment than from any gregarious 

 instinct. In fact the same tropical law which 

 liolds good in regard to jjlants and the larger 

 creatures of the sunlit world over-head applies 

 here. I found numbers of different species, but 

 very few collections of individuals of the same 

 kind. 



Flatworms were rather rare, but small, white 

 ones were found now and then flowing slowly 

 along in their characteristic manner over the 

 surface of damp, half decayed leaves, as flat- 

 worms do the world over. Roundworms, small, 

 white and threadlike, were present in equallj^ 

 small numbers. Earthworms of small size, one 

 or two inches in length, were common. They 

 moved slowly along in orthodox angleworm fash- 

 ion until something alarmed them when they 

 instantly became a maze of twisting, snapping 

 curves, dancing all about in a most unwormlike 

 fashion. The head and especially the collar 

 were brightly colored, from reddish to an intense 

 scarlet. 



Centipedes and millepedes were common, all 

 small, in keeping with the diminutive size of 

 the other inhabitants of this little world. The 

 largest centipede was less than an inch in length 

 and scurried along on eighty-four legs. Very few 

 were dark colored. Almost all were dead white, 

 with yellowish brown heads and jaws. The 

 larger millipedes were slow moving in spite of 

 their abundance of feet, but small ones of vari- 

 ous species were very agile, and slipped in and 

 out of fungi forests in a most disconcerting way. 



Scorpions were decidedly rare, and two small 

 and one medium sized specimen were all I could 

 discover. Pseudoscorpions, however, were abun- 

 dant and conspicuous. I secured fifty, and could 

 have taken three or four times as many. They 

 would rush out excitedly when disturbed, and 

 unlike all the other creatures of the underworld 

 did not seek to hide. Instead they bravely 

 sought open spaces, walking slowly and feeling- 

 ahead with their great pincer-tipped arras, which 

 they brandished with the greatest ease although 

 these weapons were as long as their entire body. 

 When really alarmed, they scurried backward, 



holding up their chelae in readiness. Their 

 bodies were whitish, but their arms and pincers 

 deep reddish brown. While there were several 

 species, these superficially fell into two distinct 

 types. The most abundant kind was pot-bellied, 

 with heavy chelae, and was slow in movement. 

 The other had a narrow, lighter body and very 

 delicate slender chelae, and ran with great speed 

 when alarmed. These, however, always ran 

 forward, not backward like the others. 



Harvest men were represented by a single 

 dadd3'-long-legs which looked decidedly out of 

 place among this dense debris. I rather fancy 

 he was strolling on the surface when my on- 

 slaught bagged him and his surroundings. 



Very small and very pale colored spiders 

 lived in the middle layer in fair numbers. I 

 saw about two score altogether. They were us- 

 ually slow or moderately gaited, like their more 

 abundant relatives, the mites. Only twice did 

 I see a spider dash off with any of the speed 

 which characterized those which lived in the 

 jungle above ground. 



Next to the ants the mites and ticks were 

 the most abundant organisms. Hardly a leaf 

 or bit of mold was free from them. I could 

 have gathered hundreds. They were of many 

 species and all colors, red, brown, purple, black 

 and flesh colored. Some were naked and shin- 

 ing, others clothed in bristly hairs to their very 

 feet. All were repulsive, slow, and so awkward 

 that it was inexplicable how creatures with such 

 lack of correlation could ever manage to find 

 food, much less a mate. They were always 

 crawling slowly along, tumbling over ever}^ ob- 

 stacle in their path. Ticks were much rarer 

 than mites. 



Numbers of very simple insects were common. 

 Silverfish or Thysanura of several species ran 

 out of their hiding places like active little 

 ghosts, and scurried swiftly to another shelter 

 which they fancied safer. Their nimble move- 

 ments made them exceedingly difficult to cap- 

 ture. Collembolas, almost equallj' primitive, 

 were usually white, but now and then a purple 

 one appeared. Many of these primitive insects 

 were not only capable of active running, but 

 when the brush wet with alcohol was about to 

 toucli them, they leaped to a distance of twenty 

 to thirty times their own length. Again and 

 again this enabled them to escape. When they 

 landed they remained motionless fOr some time 

 and were most difficult to discover. 



Termites, or "white ants," lived in small col- 

 onies of six to thirteen individuals in small 



